UNIVERSITY  OF  MICHIGAN 
GENERAL  LIBRARY 


THE  LIBRARY  BUILDING 

WITH  THE  ADDRESSES 

AT  THE 

Dedication,  January  Seventh 
1920 


ANN  ARBOR 
1920 


1 ;  ^ .  s  ^'k 


UNIVERSITY  OF  MICHIGAN 
GENERAL  LIBRARY 


THE  LIBRARY  BUILDING 

WITH  THE  ADDRESSES 

AT  THE 

Dedication,  January  Seventh 
1920 


ANN  ARBOR 
1920 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

FRONTisriECE! — View  of  the  Library,  from  tlie  Northwest 2 

The  New  Library  Buhding 5 

Floor  Plans 11 

Program  of  the  Dedication 16 

Address  at  the  Dedication 17 

The  Opening  Exhibit 33 


LIBEAEY  SCEOOL  LXBEAEX 


GENERAL  LIBRARY  BUILDING  5 

THE  NEW  LIBRARY  BUILDING* 

By  William  Warner  Bishop^  Librarian 

The  University  of  Michigan  opened  its  new  library  building  on  Jan- 
uary seventh.  This  structure  was  built  under  two  special  appropriations 
made  by  the  State  Legislature,  the  first  of  $350,000  granted  in  191 5,  and  a 
second  of  $200,000,  from  the  Legislature  of  1919.  In  addition  other  funds 
to  the  amount  of  $65,000  have  been  applied  by  the  Regents  of  the  University, 
making  the  total  cost  of  the  building  and  equipment  $615,000.  The  archi- 
tect of  the  new  structure  is  Albert  Kahn  of  Detroit,  the  designer  of  the  Hill 
Auditorium  and  the  Natural  Science  Building  at  Ann  Arbor,  both  models 
of  their  kind,  and  of  numerous  banks,  office  and  factory  buildings  in  De- 
troit and  elsewhere.  To  his  ingenuity  and  skill  the  library  building  owes 
much  more  than  can  easily  be  told,  and  his  spirit  of  co-operation  with  the  li- 
brarians and  the  university  has  left  nothing  to  be  desired.  To  his  great 
experience  in  factory  construction  is  unquestionably  to  be  ascribed  the 
unusual  size  of  the  building  in  comparison  with  its  cost;  the  structure  be- 
ing completed  at  about  25c  per  cubic  foot,  and  that  in  an  era  of  high  prices 
exceeding  all  previous  records  in  the  building  trades. 

The  new  building  is  erected  on  the  site  of  the  old  library,  and  incor- 
porates the  old  book-stack  which  was  fireproof.  The  decision  to  use  the  old 
stack  building — which  would  have  cost  quite  $150,000  to  reproduce,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  expense  of  temporary  stacks,  and  the  moving  of  300,000  vol- 
umes— made  the  architect's  problem  exceedingly  difficult.  It  was  solved  by 
erecting  two  stack  wings  at  right  angles  to  the  old  stack,  and  conforming  to 
its  varv^ing  levels.  The  northeast  corner  of  the  building  was  fixed  by  a 
thoroughfare  running  diagonally  across  the  Campus,  which  could  not  be 
cut  into  by  the  structure.  The  resulting  building  is  177  feet  in  breadth,  200 
feet  in  depth,  and  four  stories  high,  with  two  light  courts  on  either  side  of 
the  old  book  stack.  This  stack  is  five  stack  levels  high — the  new  ones  have 
eight  floors,  and  are  built  so  that  they  may  be  extended  to  fifteen,  bridging 
the  old  stack  by  girders  carried  on  specially  designed  columns  of  re-inforced 
concrete.  A  glance  at  the  plans  shows  that  books  are  housed  in  the  rear 
and  center,  reading-rooms  are  in  front,  and  special  reading  rooms  and  work 
rooms  are  on  the  sides.  The  focal  point  is  the  juncture  of  the  three  stacks 
— and  there  the  book-carrier  is  installed,  delivering  books  to  the  main  read- 
ing room  and  to  the  delivery  corridor,  both  on  the  second  floor. 

The  architect  has  endeavored  to  provide  for  the  future  needs  of  the 
university  by  making  the  reading  rooms,  delivery  corridor  and  staff  work 
rooms  as  large  as  possible,  with  definite  provision  for  extension  of  the  bock 
storage  facilities  as  the  collections  grow  in  size.  Certain  of  the  public  rooms 
can  also  be  diverted  to  other  uses  as  the  University  increases,  for  example, 
the  work  of  the  Study  Room  on  the  first  floor  can  easily  be  done  later  in  a 


*A1I  but  the  last  four  paragraphs  of  this  article  are  reprinted  from  the  Library 
Journal  for  October,  1919. 


ivi59G427 


UNIVERSITY  OF  MICHIGAN 


o  ^ 


GENERAL  LIBRARY  BUILDING  7 

recitation  building,  thus  freeing  space  for  an  additional  reading  room.  The 
Medical  Reading  Room  on  the  second  tloor  will  be  released  for  other  uses 
when  the  Medical  School  secures  a  fireproof  building  and  houses  its  library 
in  it. 

There  are  certain  novel  features  in  this  new  building  at  Michigan. 
Chief  of  these  are  the  use  of  reinforced  concrete  construction  and  the  un- 
usual amount  of  light  which  that  type  of  framework  permits  at  a  low  cost. 
Of  course  reinforced  concrete  buildings  are  proof  against  fire  originating  in 
the  structure,  and  in  the  case  of  this  library  there  is  no  "conflagration  haz- 
ard" from  outside.  Thus  two  absolute  necessities  of  a  modern  library  build- 
ing, safety  from  lire  and  abundant  light  everywhere,  are  secured  at  a  very 
slight  expense  as  compared  wath  the  same  results  in  a  steel  or  masonry 
structure.  The  bookstacks  are  designed  primarily  as  research  work  rooms 
rather  than  as  store  houses.  There  are  wide  spaces  between  centers  (54 
mches),  admitting  of  free  movement  in  the  aisles.  Every  other  floor  is 
closed  tightly,  the  staircases  are  enclosed  with  glass  and  steel,  and  there 
are  doors  at  the  head  of  the  stairs.  In  this  manner  each  pair  of  stack  lev- 
els is  ti-eated  as  a  single  unit  for  ventilation  and  there  is  no  rush  of  heated 
air  to  the  upper  stories  of  the  stack.  Exhaust  flues  are  incorporated  in  the 
stack,  while  the  air-ducts  for  the  pressure  system  run  in  the  columns  on  the 
outer  wall  of  each  stack  building.  Folios  are  kept  in  special  over-size  cases 
constructed  of  Snead  newspaper  shelving  enclosed  with  cast  iron  plates  and 
tops.  These  cases  separate  the  carrels  from  the  aisles  in  a  way  to  secure 
greater  privacy  to  investigators  using  the  carrels  and  at  the  same  time  fur- 
nish a  very  satisfactory  solution  of  the  problem  of  housing  folios  in  the 
immediate  neighborhood  of  the  other  books  in  the  same  class.  No  single 
featurg  of  the  new  building  is  so  highly  commended  in  actual  use  as  the 
provision  of  carrels  for  research  workers.  There  are  102  tables  in  these 
separate  compartments  in  the  new  stack.  The  same  number  can  be  pro- 
vided later  when  the  stacks  are  built  in  the  west  stack  wing.  The  tables  are 
large,  with  a  fixed  shelf  at  the  back.  The  student  using  one  has  control  of 
his  window,  of  his  heat,  and  of  the  light  in  his  stall,  and  there  is  a  compani- 
tive  amount  of  privacy. 

The  disposition  of  the  main  spaces  is  evident  from  a  glance  at  the  floor 
plans.  The  basement  is  almost  wholly  given  up  to  special  uses,  receiving 
room,  bindery,  machinery  room,  staff  quarters,  etc.  The  basement  is  very 
well  lighted  and  is  a  comfortable  place  in  which  to  work,  as  shown  by 
the  bindery's  experience  in  a  year's  use.  The  first  floor  houses  the  Study 
Hall  for  undergraduate  required  reading  near  the  entrance,  thus  saving 
much  time  to  undergraduates  and  eliminating  the  crowding  and  discomfort 
attendant  upon  this  service  when  performed  in  the  same  rooms  with  ref- 
erence work.  Differentiation  of  function  has  be?n,  in  fact,  the  key  to  the 
planning  of  the  library.  The  staff  quarters  are  in  one  large  room  on  the 
east  side  of  the  building,  light,  airy  and  attractive.  Provision  is  made  for 
privacy  for  heads  of  departments  by  partitions  of  double-faced  bookcases. 


8 


UNIVERSITY  OF  MICHIGAN 


There  should  be  no  congestion  and  great  flexibility  of  arrangement  in  a 
large  office-workroom  of  this  sort,  as  has  been  proven  time  and  again  in 
the  newer  office-buildings  of  large  corporations.  The  ordering,  classif}- 
ing  and  cataloging  are  thus  done  on  one  floor  under  comfortable  conditions. 
There  is  also  a  lecture  room  on  this  first  floor,  capable  of  seating  about 
seventy-five  students. 

The  second  floor  is  the  main  service  level.  The  approach  is  by  double 
staircases  of  a  very  easy  tread,  and  in  addition  there  are  elevators.  The 
Delivery  Corridor  contains  the  card  catalogs,  the  circulation  desk,  and  a 
delivery  counter.  The  book  carrier  delivers  here  as  well  as  in  the  main 
Reading  Room  on  the  north  side  of  the  building.    This  is  a  very  noble  room, 


THE  STUDY  ROOM  ON  THE  FIRST  FLOOR 


170  feet  long,  50  feet  wide,  and  50  feet  high  in  the  center  of  the  barrel- 
vaulted  ceiling.  There  are  eleven  huge  windows  (9  ft.  wide  by  19  ft.  6  in. 
high)  on  the  north  side,  and  three  at  each  end.  The  rooms  will  seat  about 
300  readers,  while  more  could  be  given  chairs,  if  necessary.  At  either  end 
over  the  large  windows  are  paintings  by  Gari  Melchers,  the  Arts  of  War 
and  the  Arts  of  Peace,  painted  in  1893  for  the  Manufactures  Building  at 
the  Chicago  World's  Fair.  The  subjects  are  the  same  as  his  well-known 
paintings  in  the  Library  of  Congress,  but  the  treatment  differs  in  details 
from  those  paintings.  The  evening  illumination  is  by  indirect  radiation  frn-i 
reflectors  concealed  in  the  tops  of  the  bookcases,  located,  it  wnll  be  observed, 
where  thev  can  be  cleaned  easily  and  frequently.  The  Librarian's  Office,  the 
Medical  Reading  Room,  and  a  Periodical  Reading  Room  are  likewise  on 
the  second  floor. 


GENERAL  LIBRARY  BUILDING  9 

The  third  and  fourth  floors  are  given  over  to  graduate  research  and 
instruction.  Four  Graduate  Reading  Rooms  for  the  use  of  students  in  the 
Graduate  School  are  provided,  and  across  the  corridor  are  class  rooms  for 
the  meeting  of  seminars.  These  reading  rooms  will  each  have  about  eight 
thousand  volumes,  and  are  to  be  open  like  the  rest  of  the  Library,  fourteen 
hours  daily. 

The  technical  details  of  the  building  are  most  modern.  All  piping 
(steam,  v^ater,  gas,  electricity)  is  placed  in  vertical  shafts;  all  wires  are  in 
conduits  (mostly  laid  in  concrete  floors  and  columns)  ;  there  are  ample  fa- 
cilities for  the  inspection  and  repair  of  all  plumbing  and  steam-fitting.  Mo- 
tors and  fans  are  insulated  on  cork  and  felt.  The  vacuum  cleaning  machin- 
ery (always  noisy)  is  located  outside  the  building  under  the  front  steps. 
In  general  these,  and  many  other  ingenious  devices  making  for  comfort, 
ease  and  cheapness  of  operation,  are  due  to  the  architect  and  to  the  care 
and  skill  of  Professor  John  F.  Shepard  who  has  supervised  the  construc- 
tion for  the  University. 

There  are  seats  for  one  thousand  readers  in  the  new  structure,  di- 
vided between  reading  and  study  rooms,  seminars,  and  stacks.  It  will  house 
one  million  volumes  without  extension,  and  nearly  a  million  more  with  the 
extensions  planned  for.  It  can  be  added  to  without  seriously  injuring  its  ap- 
pearance or  interfering  with  its  working  plans.  And  it  has  been  built  dur- 
ing the  war  at  a  serious  sacrifice  on  the  part  of  the  contractors  without  any 
deviation  from  the  original  designs  or  important  change  in  specifications. 

The  task  of  furnishing  and  equipping  the  Library  Building  proved 
much  more  formidable  than  was  expected,  because  of  the  great  difficulty  in 
obtaining  materials  and  manufactured  articles.  This  condition  was  univer- 
sal throughout  the  country.  It  may  be  illustrated  by  the  fact  that  elecrric 
light  fixtures  ordered  in  August,  for  delivery  in  October,  were  not  delivered 
until  late  in  December;  and  the  entire  consignment  was  not  in  place  at  the 
time  of  the  Dedication.  The  carpenters  and  painters  employed  by  the  Uni- 
versity have  worked  with  great  energy  and  interest  at  the  task  of  building 
tables,  chairs  and  other  furniture,  and,  once  they  had  the  materials,  turned 
out  the  work  in  prompt  fashion. 

The  furnishings  of  the  building  are  very  interesting  to  librarians 
for  their  simplicity,  their  agreeable  color,  and  their  efficiency  for  their  sev- 
eral purposes.  The  chairs  in  the  Main  Reading  Room  were  designed  for 
the  comfort  of  persons  sitting  up  and  working  at  a  table,  and  have  proven 
very  successful.  The  Periodical  Room  has  been  furnished  with  a  series  of 
cubby-holes,  supplied  with  doors  to  keep  out  dust  and  to  make  the  room 
present  an  orderly  appearance.  The  efifect  is  pleasing,  and  the  convenience 
of  persons  using  the  room  has  been  greatly  aided  by  this  device. 

The  lighting  fixtures  for  the  smaller  reading  rooms,  designed  by  Pro- 
fessor John  F.  Shepard,  give  a  maximum  of  direct,  and  a  large  amount  of 
indirect  light,  without  exposing  the  filament  in  the  nitrogen  bulbs  to  the 
eye  of  the  reader.    These  have  been  successfully  employed  in  all  the  rooms 


lo  UNIVERSITY  OF  MICHIGAN 

less  than  twenty  feet  in  height.  The  hghting  of  the  Main  Reading  Room  is 
done  entirely  by  indirect  and  diffused  light.  There  are  no  chandeliers,  but 
the  lights  are  carried  in  the  tops  of  the  bookcases.  The  effect  is  more 
that  of  daylight  than  of  the  ordinary  evening  illumination.  It  was  supposed 
that  table  lights  might  be  needed  at  the  ends  of  the  room,  but  they  have 
proven  unnecessary,  the  light  in  the  great  reading  room  being  amply  suffi- 
cient for  reading  in  all  parts  of  the  room. 

The  artistic  features  of  the  building  are  perhaps  worth  noting,  al- 
though they  have  been  subordinated  to  considerations  of  utility  in  most 
cases.  The  admirable  stained  glass  windows  which  were  in  the  former 
reading  room  have  been  carefully  preserved  and  placed  over  the  desk  on  the 
south  side  of  the  Main  Reading  Room,  where  they  make  a  note  of  color  as 
the  sun  shines  through  them  during  the  greater  part  of  each  day.  The  casts 
ot  the  Parthenon  frieze  and  of  the  famous  Delia  Robbia  choir,  which  were  in 
the  old  reading  room,  have  been  placed  in  the  Delivery  Corridor  and  St'jdy 
Hall,  respectively.  The  walls  of  these  two  rooms  have  been  tinted  by 
the  stippling  process  in  such  a  manner  as  not  to  absorb  light  undulv  and 
yet  to  give  a  pleasing  effect  in  conjunction  with  the  woodwork.  One  of  tlie 
very  successful  features  has  been  the  exhibit  cases  in  the  front  corridor, 
and  the  panels  above  them.  The  latter  have  been  painted  in  the  Pompeian 
style  by  Mr.  Thomas  di  Lorenzo  of  New  York,  who  has  managed  to  har- 
monize his  colors  with  the  pink  tinge  of  the  marble  in  the  hall.  The  result 
is  to  give  a  bit  of  warm  color  in  the  entrance,  which  has  only  north  light. 
It  is  probable  that  arrangements  can  be  made  to  secure  for  the  Library 
some  of  the  best  of  the  University's  collection  of  paintings,  and  perhaps 
other  paintings  not  now  owned  by  the  University. 


THE  MALL 
Between   the    Chemistry   and   Natural   Science   Buildings,   with   the    Library   in   the   background 


FLOOR  PLANS 


UNIVERSITY  OF  MICHIGAN 


-v_ 


kl 


A 


dPMOTCDSTAT 


J 


hv 


N 


Courtesy  of  the  "Library  .Tournal" 


THE    BASEMENT   PLAN 


GENERAL  LIBRARY  BUILDING 


13 


THE  FIRST   FLOOR   PLAN. 


Courtesy   of  the   "Library  Journal' 


UNIVERSITY  OF  MICHIGAN 


THE   SECOND    OR    MAIN    FLOOR    PLAN 


Courtesy   of   the    "Library  Journal"' 


GENERAL  LIBRARY  BUILDING 


15 


Lt 


em  zn 

u 


iJSl 


.■o,v    0=  jrcyirsM 


X    J 


P 


^^d 


THE  THIRD  FLOOR  PLAN 


i6  UNIVERSITY  OF  MICHIGAN 


Program  of  the  Exercises  oe  Dedication 


UNIVERSITY  OF  MICHIGAN 


Dedication  op  the  New  Library  Building 

January  Seventh,  Nineteen  Hundred  and  Twenty 

HiLE  Auditorium 


PROGRAM 


Toccata  and  Fugue,  D  Minor Badi 

Mr.  Earl  Vincent  Moore 

The  History  of  the  New  Library  Building 

Regent  William  L.  Clements* 

The  Plans  of  the  Building 

Mr.  Albert  Kahn,  Architect 

Pilgrim   Song    Tschaikozvsky 

Mr.  William  Wheeler 

Address :     The  Library,  Democracy,  and  Research 
Mr.  Richard  Rogers  Bowker 


*The  Librarian  of  the  University  spoke  in  place  of  Regent  Clemens. 


GENERAL  LIBRARY  BUILDING  17 

ADDRESSES 

The  opening  of  the  new  Library  of  the  University  of  Michigan  ^>.as 
formally  celebrated  by  appropriate  exercises  in  Hill  Auditorium  on  the  aft- 
ernoon of  January  7,  1920. 

There  were  present  more  than  three  thousand  persons  who  listened  to 
addresses  by  the  Librarian,  Mr.  William  Warner  Bishop,  '92,  who  gave  a 
short  history  of  the  Library  Building  in  place  of  Regent  William  L.  Cle- 
ments, '82,  (unfortunately  prevented  by  illness  from  participatnig  in  the  pro- 
gram), to  the  architect  of  the  building,  Mr.  Albert  Kahn  of  Detroit, 
and  to  Mr.  R.  R.  Bowker  of  New  York,  the  editor  of  the  Library  Journal. 
President  Hutchins  introduced  the  speakers. 

THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  NEW  LIBRARY  BUILDING 

Bv  William  Warner  Bishop^  Librarian 

The  honor  of  this  initial  place  on  the  program  of  the  dedicatory  exer- 
cises for  our  new  library  building  comes  to  me  because  Regent  William  L. 
Clements  was  too  ill  to  prepare  and  deliver  the  address  assigned  to  him  on 
the  printed  programs  in  your  hands.  It  seemed  peculiarly  fitting  that  he, 
the  Chairman  of  the  Library  Committee  of  the  Regents,  should  have  the  op- 
portunity to  rehearse  the  successive  steps  in  the  completion  of  the  task  to 
which  he  has  given  so  lavishly  his  strength  and  his  best  thought.  i\Iy  sole 
consolation  for  his  absence  today — absence  from  the  program  alone,  I  rejoice 
to  say,  for  he  is  here  beside  me — my  sole  consolation  is  the  opportunity 
thus  given  me  to  pay  public  tribute  to  his  untiring  interest  in  the  University 
Library,  to  his  unwearied  efiforts  in  the  erection  of  the  building  which  we 
dedicate  today,  to  his  sacrifice  of  time  and  personal  comfort  in  its  behalf, 
and  to  the  wisdom  and  determination  with  which  he  has  guided  this  enter- 
prise, to  a  successful  end.  No  librarian  and  no  architect  could  wish  for 
more  kindly,  more  sympathetic  support,  or  for  more  searching  and  just 
scruntiny  of  projects  and  plans.  Not  the  least  of  the  many  services  which 
Regent  Clements  has  rendered  his  Alma  ]Mater  is  the  carrying  through  to 
completion  of  the  new  library  building. 

To  very  many  alumni  it  seemed  a  great  pity,  indeed  almost  a  crying 
shame,  that  the  old  Library  Building  in  which  they  had  spent  so  many 
busily  happy  hours,  should  be  torn  down.  And  yet,  though  by  no  means  an 
old  structure — it  was  occupied  in  1883 — by  1914  conditions  of  work  in  it 
were  well-nigh  intolerable.  The  Reading  Rooms  were  crowded  and  noisy, 
the  stafif  rooms  were  so  small  that  not  only  did  desk  touch  desk,  but  people 
literally  rubbed  elbows,  two  at  a  single  desk.  Its  book-stacks  were  so  con- 
gested that  the  very  windows  were  darkened  by  books,  and  many  aisles 
were  almost  impassable.  The  case  was  hterally  desperate.  Relief  was  im- 
perative, if  the  work  of  the  University  was  to  go  on.  And  yet,  relief  by  any 
other  means  than  a  new  structure  was  impossible.  The  book-stack  would 
not  bear  additional  stories  above  or  below  its  actual  level.  The  main  struc- 
ture was  non-fireproof — highly  inflammable  indeed,  as  we  discovered  when 


i8 


UNIVERSITY  OF  MICHIGAN 


it  was  wrecked  in  1917.  The  shape  of  the  semi-circular  reading  room  did 
not  admit  of  addition.  And  finally,  the  building,  especially  the  stack,  could 
not  be  turned  to  any  other  useful  purpose  in  a  university  already  cramped 
for  room  in  every  direction.  The  only  solution  seemed — and  was — a  new 
structure  on  the  site  of  the  old  one,  a  site  in  the  center  of  the  'Campus, 
strategically  located,  pointed  out  by  every  consideration  as  the  only  one  en- 
tirely desirable. 

X'arious  efforts  were  made  by  the  Faculties  and  the  Librarian  to  direct 
attention  to  the  imperative  need  of  a  new  structure.  So  bad  had  the  condi- 
tions become  that  the  Regents  in  their  program  submitted  to  the  Legislature 
of  191 5  included  an  item  of  $350,000  for  a  new  library  building.  This  was 
not  done  without  preliminary  study.     A  committee  of  two  professors,  the 


THE  MAGAZINE  ROOM 


late  Dean  Carl  Guthe  and  Professor  L  N.  Demmon,  at  the  Regents'  directio^ 
visited  numerous  universities  to  study  their  library  buildings.  The  Library 
Committee  of  the  Regents  had  sketches  prepared  which  should  at  least  out- 
line the  new  structure.  And  so  the  plan  and  the  appeal  went  to  the  Legis- 
lature of  191 5,  where  it  reposed  peacefully  until  about  the  end  of  the  session. 

Many  persons  aided  in  securing  the  passage  of  the  bill,  Regents, 
alumni- in  the  House  and  Senate,  friends  of  higher  education  in  this  State 
— but  special  mention  should  be  made  of  the  efforts  of  the  Honorable  Wil- 
liam F.  Nank  and  the  President  of  the  University.  Happily  both  are  with  us 
today.  Mr.  Nank,  and  President  Hutchins,  in  the  name  of  this  audience,  I 
thank  you  both ! 

It  would  ill  become  us  on  this  occasion,  because  we  note  the  successful 
efforts  of  a  few  to  persuade  the  Legislature  to  action,  to  fail  to  honor  with 
our  earnest  and  sincere  thanks  the  Legislature  itself.     This  University  has 


GENERAL  LIBRARY  BUILDING  19 

not  in  my  time  been  forced  to  plead  its  case  before  a  hostile  or  inditi'erent 
legislative  body.  The  people  of  the  State  of  Michigan  believe  in  the  Univer- 
sity of  Alichigan,  and  their  representatives  share  and  have  shared  in  that 
belief  and  confidence.  But  any  man  who  is  at  all  conversant  with  the  work 
of  legislative  bodies  knows  how  vast  is  the  amount,  and  how  great  the  num- 
ber of  the  appeals  for  appropriations.  No  legislature  could  possibly  grant 
even  a  considerable  fraction  of  the  total  requests  for  appropriations  made  on 
it.  Therefore,  the  Legislature  of  191 5,  which  recognized  the  need  for  this 
new  building,  and  that  of  1919,  which  provided  for  its  completion,  deserve 
and  have  our  profound  gratitude  and  thanks.  The  University  does  not 
merely  come  and  ask.    It  remembers  and  it  gives  thanks. 

Buildings  have  a  way  of  hanging  fire,  once  money  is  voted  for  them. 
It  takes  a  long  time  to  see  that  plans  are  wisely  drawn — and  a  long  time  to 
draw  them.  The  Regents,  soon  after  the  vote  by  the  Legislature, — ^in  June, 
191 5,  to  be  exact, — appointed  Mr.  Albert  Kahn  of  Detroit  as  architect  of  the 
new  library  building,  a  choice  so  happy,  and  provocative  of  such  admirable 
results  as  to  need  no  comment  from  me.  This  building  in  which  we  meet, 
the  Natural  Science  Building  across  the  street,  and  the  new  Library,  of 
themselves  justify  that  selection.  Mr.  Kahn  will  speak  about  the  plans  for 
the  building.  I  wish  to  take  this  opportunity  to  bear  witness  to  his  entire 
co-operation  with  the  librarian  and  the  other  University  officers,  to  the 
unrivalled  skill  which  has  given  us  so  large  and  sightly  a  building  at  so  small 
a  cost,  and  to  his  unfailing  good  spirits  and  cheerfulness  in  the  face  of  end- 
less delays  and  difficulties. 

With  the  architect,  the  faculty  committee  referred  to  before — now 
unhappily  deprived  of  Dean  Guthe's  aid,  and  consisting  of  Professors  Wen- 
ley  and  Demmon  and  the  present  Librarian — had  numerous  conferences. 
They  visited  and  studied  numerous  libraries.  They  found  at  once  that  the 
sum  asked  for  and  voted  was  smaller  than  it  seemed.  But  on  December  first, 
191 5,  after  conferences  with  the  faculties  and  Regents,  the  architect's  sketch- 
es were  approved  by  the  Regents,  and  he  was  authorized  to  proceed  to  make 
drawings  as  a  basis  for  bids  for  construction.  With  the  detailed  work  on 
the  drawings,  a  new  and  most  important  factor  entered  into  the  plans  for  the 
building.  This  was  the  appointment  by  the  Regents  of  Professor  John  F. 
Shepard  to  represent  the  University  in  the  planning  and  construction  of  the 
Library  building.  For  four  years  Professor  Shepard  and  the  Librarian  of 
the  University  have  worked  together  on  the  Library  building,  first  on  its 
plans,  later  on  details  of  construction,  lastly  on  the  furnishing  and  equip- 
ment. Professor  Shepard's  well-known  skill  in  experimentation,  his  experi- 
ence in  constructing  the  Natural  Science  Building,  his  acquaintance  with  the 
architect's  force,  pointed  him  out  as  the  logical  man  to  do  this  work.  But 
what  devotion  he  has  shown  to  it,  what  sacrifice  of  his  own  leisure  and  com- 
fort, what  even  greater  sacrifice  of  his  time  for  work  in  his  laboratory,  none 
can  know  save  perhaps  Mrs.  Shepard  and  the  present  speaker.  The  debt 
which  the  University  Library  owes  to  Dr.  Shepard  it  is  impossible  to  exag- 
gerate. He  has  met  emergencies  with  skill,  difficulties  with  determination, 
drudgery  with  patience,  and  has  even  reached  the  Scriptural  height  of  suf- 
fering fools  gladly.     I  have  but  one  regret  in  recalling  the  four  years  of 


20  UNIVERSITY  OF  MICHIGAN 

constant  association ;  I  am  uncomfortably  conscious  of  what  precious  hours 
he  has  freely  taken  from  the  pursuit  of  his  own  researches  to  make  research 
in  the  library  possible  for  others. 

The  original  plans  for  the  building  provided  for  but  one  of  the  two 
stack  wings.  In  March,  igi6,  the  Regents  voted  to  construct  both  wings, 
in  order  to  provide  reading  rooms  in  the  west  wing  during  the  construction 
of  the  building.  That  this  decision  was  wise  is  unquestionable.  It  is  dif- 
ficult to  see  how  the  work  of  the  Library  could  otherwise  have  been  main- 
tained during  the  past  three  years.  In  June  of  1916  bids  were  submitted  on 
the  new  structure  and  the  contract  finally  let  to  the  Selden-Breck  Co.  of  St. 
Louis,  Missouri.  The  contract  for  the  book  stack  in  the  east  wing  went  to 
the  Snead  and  Co.  Iron  Works  of  Jersey  City,  N.  J.  The  general  contrac- 
tors proceeded  at  once  to  the  erection  of  the  two  stack  wings.  From  the 
time  they  began  in  August,  1916,  until  the  completion  of  the  structure  nearly 
three  years  later,  their  operations  were  best  with  difficulties  of  all  sorts. 
Delays  in  delivery,  freight  embargoes,  shortage  of  labor,  of  steel,  of  timber, 
of  coal,  the  war  and  the  two  drafts,  increase  in  prices  of  all  commodities, 
everything  combined  to  make  their  labor  slow  and  difficult.  None  the  less 
they  stuck  to  the  job  and  finished  the  building — and  that  at  a  serious 
financial  loss. 

By  June  of  191 7,  the  west  stack  wing  was  occupied  and  the  work  of  the 
library  moved  from  the  old  building.  By  the  fall  of  that  year  the  book-stack 
was  finished,  save  for  the  two  lower  floors  which  temporarily  housed  the 
bindery.  The  removal  of  the  library's  work  to  the  new  structure  was  effect- 
ed without  closing  down  even  for  an  hour,  although  it  would  be  idle  to  affirm 
that  it  was  accomplished  without  inconvenience  to  the  student  body.  The 
temporary  quarters  in  the  west  wing  have  housed  the  Library  until  the  pres- 
ent week.    Tomorrow  they  will  be  abandoned  for  the  new  reading  rooms. 

The  summer  of  1917,  our  first  months  of  the  World  War,  saw  the 
wrecking  of  the  old  library  structure.  This  proved  a  much  more  difficult 
task  than  had  been  expected,  and  required  weeks  for  its  completion.  The 
felling  of  the  old  clock  tower  on  a  July  morning  that  summer  was  a  sight 
which  all  of  the  Httle  band  who  rose  early  to  witness  it  will  always  remem- 
ber. Slowly  the  old  building  was  removed  bit  by  bit,  with  much  noise  and 
more  dust  for  the  long-suffering  occupants  of  neighboring  buildings.  And 
before  fall  the  noise  of  the  concrete-mixer  was  again  heard  in  the  land. 
Then  came  the  rains  of  the  fall  of  191 7,  and  the  unexampled  cold  of  the  win- 
ter of  1917-1918.  Those  were  the  days  when  our  young  men  were  going 
off  to  the  camps,  and  only  older  laborers  and  skilled  machanics  were  left  be- 
hind. I  well  remember  the  devotion  with  which  the  workmen  toiled  in 
weather  below  zero  to  finish  the  basement.  Fires  had  to  be  lighted  to  thaw 
out  the  ground  in  which  drains  were  to  be  laid.  But  through  it  all  the 
work  went  on  until  in  the  late  spring  of  1919  the  general  contractors  turn- 
ed over  a  completed  structure  to  the  University. 

A  structure  completed — yes,  but  not  a  building  for  occupancy.  A 
second  legislature  had  appropriated  $200,000  to  finish  and  equip  the  library. 
Nine  months  and  more  has  the  University's  force  of  carpenters,  painters 
and  electricians  worked  at  the  equipment.     Here,  too,  delays  without  end 


GENERAL  LIBRARY  BUILDING  21 

have  contrived  to  defer  the  actual  use  of  the  building.  Today  the  third  and 
fourth  floors  and  most  of  the  first  floor  are  not  ready  for  use — solely  on 
account  of  the  present  abnormal  state  of  the  world's  markets.  Just  one 
example :  It  took  four  months  of  correspondence  to  secure  a  single  car- 
load of  quarter-sawed  oak  from  which  to  build  the  tables  in  the  Reading 
Room.  Ten  years  ago  a  carload — yes,  many  of  them — could  have  been  had 
by  telephoning  any  one  of  a  score  of  firms  within  fifty  miles  of  Ann  Arbor. 
And  this  is  typical  of  most  of  the  work  of  building  in  war-time. 

Mention  of  the  University's  force  of  workmen  gives  me  an  opportun- 
ity to  say  a  word  of  recognition  of  their  services  and  their  devotion. 
All  the  painting  and  finishing,  the  electrical  work  (save  a  few  fixtures),  the 
plumbing  and  steam  fitting,  and  much  of  the  carpenter  work,  has  been  done 
by  the  University's  own  men  working  under  the  Superintendent  of  Buildings 
and  Grounds.  They  have  shown  a  pride  in  that  work,  and  it  has  been  well 
done.  The  Library  staff  has  come  to  know  them  in  the  close  association  ne- 
cessarily brought  about  by  the  conditions  of  the  last  three  years.  And  we 
have  come  to  respect  and  like  them.  We  shall  miss  them  when  they  go  ofl^ 
to  work  on  the  hospital.  And  I,  for  one.  am  glad  that  so  large  a  part  of 
this  new  building  has  been  done  not  by  Ann  Arbor  folk  alone,  but  by  Uni- 
versity employees. 

May  I  take  this  occasion,  also,  to  express  our  sense  of  the  patience  of 
the  University  community  under  most  trying  conditions  during  those  years 
of  building?  First  there  was  noise,  then  dust,  then  new  and  ugly  quarters, 
temporary  reading  rooms,  necessarily  slow  and  imperfect  service,  in  short, 
all  the  discomforts  and  inconvenience  of  living  in  a  house  which  was  being 
torn  down  while  a  new  house  was  being  built  on  the  same  site.  It  has  not 
been  pleasant  or  easy,  and  this  fall,  when  the  University  has  been  so  crowd- 
ed, the  conditions  have  at  times  been  seriously  detrimental  to  efficient  use 
of  the  plant.  But  everybody  has  made  the  best  of  a  trying  situation.  The 
student  body  has  been  patient — very  patient,  and  I  trust  it  need  exercise 
that  patience  but  a  few  weeks  longer.  We  shall  not  be  wholly  ready  for 
rapid  service  for  some  time.  But  each  day  will  see  some  definite  step  toward 
that  end. 

What  does  this  new  building  mean  to  the  University?  Of  course,  an 
ample,  quiet,  comfortable  place  in  which  to  read  and  study.  But  much  more. 
It  is  an  outward  and  visible  expression  of  two  things  of  the  spirit  which  go 
far  toward  making  true  scholarship :  seiwice  and  learning.  Here  are  af- 
forded the  means  in  comfortable  guise  of  meeting  face  to  face  the  great 
master-minds  of  the  race.  Here  lie — in  fair  guise  and  array,  ready  for  in- 
stant use — the  great  mass  of  facts  which  the  human  mind  has  discovered 
for  and  about  itself  and  its  world.  Here  are  the  librarians,  ready,  so  far 
as  their  imperfect  skill  may  permit,  to  aid  generations  of  students  to  making 
the  contact  between  themselves  and  recorded  thought.  This  is  the  great  pur- 
pose, the  only  reason  for  existence,  of  the  University  Library.  Its  building 
is  but  the  outward  means  to  the  housing  of  books,  to  the  reading  of  books, 
to  the  end  that  young  men  and  women  may  acquire  learning,  and,  perhaps, 
wisdom. 


22  UNIVERSITY  OF  MICHIGAN 

THE  PLANS  OF  THE  NEW  BUILDING 

By  AivBErt  Kahn^  Architect 

As  architect  of  the  new  Library  about  to  be  dedicated,  I  am  asked  to 
say  a  few  words  about  the  structure,  th?  problems  involved  and  the  solu- 
tion sought.  In  a  nut-shell,  the  problem  was  this— to  get  as  much  building 
for  as  little  money  as  possible  and  to  that  end  all  efforts  were  bent.  In  con- 
nection with  this,  I  am  glad  to  have  the  opportunity  of  expressing  to  you 


THE  DELIVERY  DESK  IN  THE  NEW  LIBRARY 


my  sincere  admiration  for  the  splendid  body  of  men  entrusted  with  the  di- 
rection of  this  important  institution  of  learning.  I  refer  not  only  to  your 
President  and  other  officers  of  the  University,  but  particularly  to  your 
honorable  Board  of  Regents.  No  group  of  men  was  ever  more  conscious  of 
its  duty  to  the  commonwealth,  more  conscientious  in  the  discharge  of  its 
duty,  more  liberal  in  giving  time,  more  businesslike  in  the  direction  of 
affairs  or  more  keenly  interested  in  the  welfare  of  this  University.  No  bet- 
ter proof  of  all  this  can  be  offered  than  the  management  of  building  con- 
struction under  the  chairmanship  of  the  Hon.  Wm.  L.  Clements,  whose  un- 
tiring efforts  on  behalf  of  his  Alma  Mater,  whose  splendid  foresight  and 
judgment  enriched  by  a  wide  experience,  no  words  can  express.  It  is  his 
direction  which  has  made  for  the  straightforward  economical  solution  of  the 
several  buildings  of  recent  years. 

Possessed  of  fullest  regard  for  external  appearance  and  a  proper  ap- 
preciation of  the  importance  of  the  aesthetic,  he  holds  the  conviction  that  it 


GENERAL  LIBRARY  BUILDING  23 

is  of  less  importance  that  buildings  be  monuments  as  such,  than  that  they 
serve  their  purpose  well.  Through  his  insistence,  extravagance  and  costli- 
ness have  been  avoided  in  eveiy  instance.  Nor  is  extravagance  or  the  use  of 
costly  materials  an  imperative  element  in  the  creation  of  architectural  beauty. 
To  Ruskin's  definition  of  architecture  as  being  "the  art  which  so  disposes 
and  adorns  edifices  raised  by  man  for  whatever  use  that  the  sight  of  them 
may  contribute  to  his  mental  health,  power  and  pleasure,"  IMr.  Clements 
would  add,  that  art,  which  accomplishes  all  these  things  without  however 
exceeding  the  appropriation  or  bankrupting  the  owner.  Mr.  Clements  is 
right.  Deliberately  to  exceed  the  appropriation  in  the  execution  of  (espec- 
ially public)  work  is  a  wrong  committed  against  the  commonwealth. 

Nor  need  economy  in  design  mean  ugliness.  Inde-^d  some  of  the  best 
work  artistically  is  that  most  restrained  because  of  limited  funds.  Economy 
is  not  responsible  where  beauty  is  entirely  absent.  It  is  rather  the  lack  of 
ability  or  of  proper  efiforts  expended  on  the  part  of  the  designer.  ]\Iay  I 
express  the  hope  that  the  Architect  of  the  Library  is  not  to  be  charged 
with  either? 

The  building  which  it  was  our  privilege  to  work  up  involved  a  most  in- 
teresting though  difficult  problem.  It  had  to  be  designed  so  that  it  might 
be  built  in  two  parts,  completing  one  section  for  temporary  occupancy  and 
the  other  and  larger  part  later.  The  old  book-stack,  being  of  fireproof  and 
othenvise  satisfactory  construction,  was  to  be  saved  and  made  a  part  of  the 
new  structure.  The  new  Library  was,  therefore,  built  around  the  existing 
stack  and  in  such  a  manner  as  to  perrhit  of  adding  not  only  now  to  the  book- 
stack  space,  but  in  the  future  should  the  need  arise. 

Provision  for  expansion  is  of  prime  importance  in  the  modern  library 
building:  Of  equal  importance  is  adequate  room,  light  and  air  for  the  stafif. 
Too  often  all  efifort  is  expended  on  the  public  rooms  and  the  work  rooms 
suffer  in  space,  and  light  and  air  so  necessary  for  the  best  results  from  the 
workers  and  for  their  health.  It  has  been  the  particular  aim  in  this  building 
properly  to  provide  for  these.  Then  there  are  the  necessary  reading  rooms, 
private  study  and  seminar  rooms,  all  planned  to  co-ordinate  and  function 
properly.  It  is  hoped  that  all  will  work  out  satisfactorily  in  actual  use,  and 
if  this  prove  so.  a  large  share  of  the  credit  must  go  to  two  men  who  gave 
indefatigably  of  their  time,  advice  and  personal  eft'ort.  I  refer  to  your 
capable  Librarian,  Mr.  Wm.  Warner  Bishop  and  to  Dr.  John  F.  Shepard. 
Mr.  Bishop  assisted  materially  in  the  development  of  the  plans  and  interior 
details ;  Dr.  Shepard  in  the  actual  construction  work  and  equipment.  Since 
knowing  Dr.  Shepard,  who  as  you  know,  is  Professor  of  Psychology,  I  am 
firmly  convinced  that  the  study. of  psychology  is  a  very  necessary  part  of  the 
architectural  curriculum.  Too  often  well  meant  efforts  on  the  part  of  such 
assistants  result  in  obstruction  and  interference.  Not  in  this  instance,  how- 
ever. The  splendid  ^co-operation  and  helpfulness  of  these  men  proved  in- 
valuable. 

There  existed  in  the  construction  of  the  building  a  remarkable  harm- 
ony between  contractors,  the  Board,  and  its  representatives.  Much  praise 
is  due  Messrs.  Selden  and  Breck,  the  general  contractors,  and  their  super- 
intendents,   ]\IcDonald   and   Clark.      The   difficulties   in   construction   work 


24 


UNIVERSITY  OF  MICHIGAN 


brought  about  by  the  World  War  were  innumerable  and  at  times  seemed  in- 
surmountable. That  in  spite  of  all  they  produced  such  satisfactory  results 
in  workmanship  and  general  execution  is  much  to  their  credit. 

The  building,  which  is  of  strictly  fireproof  construction,  has  a  floor 
area  of  125,000  square  feet.  Its  cubical  contents  are  2,100,000  cubic  feet.  It 
cost  including  stacks,  but  not  including  other  equipment,  was  approximate- 
ly $525,009,  or  25c  per  cubic  foot.  The  cost  of  the  plainest  sort  of  factory 
work  today  is  25c  and  over  per  cubic  foot. 

Before  the  day  of  print,  architecture  served  to  express  the  thoughts  of 
men.  These  are  now  recorded  in  books  housed  in  libraries.  Architecture, 
however,  would  not  be  equal  to  its  opportunities  today  if  it  failed  to  ex- 
press a  thought.  May  the  new  Library  tell  the  story  of  a  sincere  desire  on 
the  part  of  the  officers  of  the  University  and  their  Architect  to  provide  for 
the  students  and  the  State  a  structure  which  will  inspire  nobler  aspirations, 
more  enlightenment,  greater  tolerance  and  increased  wisdom  among  the 
men  and  women  who  will  enter  its  doors. 


THE   MAIN   READING   ROOM— LOOKING   EAST 


GENERAL  LIBRARY  BUILDING  25 

THE  LIBRARY,  DEMOCRACY  AND  RESEARCH 

Bv  Richard  Rogers  Bowker 

Mr.  President  and  Regents,  Guests  of  tlie  University,  Ladies  and  Gentle- 
men, Fellozo  Stitde)its: 

I  say  fellow  students,  because  every  man  of  college  education  should 
be  a  student  to  the  end  of  his  days. 

It  is  an  especial  pleasure  for  me  to  take  part  in  the  dedication  of  this 
splendid  library  building,  so  worthy  of  this  great  University — and  that  for 
many  reasons.  But  first,  I  must  felicitate  Architect  Kahn  for  performing 
that  impossible  task  of  the  Scotch  congregation  who  wanted  to  worship  in 
the  old  church  while  the  new  church  was  being  built  and  use  the  material 
of  the  old  church  to  build  the  new. 

A  chief  reason  is  that,  for  more  than  half  a  century,  since  my  early 
college  days,  I  have  honored  the  University  of  Michigan  as  the  pioneer 
and  forefront' of  free  state  university  education,  an  institution  which  has 
been  the  exemplar  and  stimulus  for  that  great  chain  of  state  universities 
stretching  from  Ohio,  through  the  golden  West,  to  the  Golden  Gate,  which 
have  done  so  much  to  lift  the  West,  as  it  grew,  out  of  the  material  into  the 
higher  life  of  a  community,  and  has  reacted  from  the  one  into  the  other, 
until  the  material  prosperity  of  the  States  of  the  West  has  been  as  much 
benefited  as  its  higher  life.  Our  Puritan  fathers  had  scarcely  taken  breath 
after  landing  at  Salem  and  Boston,  before  they  began  to  do  something  for 
education,  and  in  the  early  beginnings  started  Harvard  College  with  its  col- 
lection of  books  and  its  few  students.    As  Holmes  says : 

"Lord,  how  the  Seniors  knocked  about 
The  Freshman  class  of  one !" 

Their  great-great-great-grandchildren,  making  western  New  York  a 
first  stepping-stone  and  leaping  thence  into  Michigan,  began  in  the  same 
way  to  lay  the  foundations  of  education  for  the  great  West.  It  is  interest- 
ing to  note  that  one  of  their  first  endeavors,  when  the  territory  was  under 
organization,  was  to  prophesy  and  provide  for  that  remarkable  system  of 
free  and  higher  education  which  is  exemplified  here  today,  when  they  es- 
tablished that  Catholepistemiad ! — it  is  almost  sacrilege  for  an  outsider  to 
pronounce  that  classic  and  hallowed  name! — which  was  the  forerunner  of 
the  University  and  of  the  great  free  school  system  of  Michigan.  And  it  is 
more  remarkable  that  the  beginnings  were  made  by  a  Catholic  priest  and  a 
Presbyterian  dominie  for  a  non-sectarian  institution,  which  did  not  serve 
religion  the  less  because  it  had  not  to  do  with  religious  sects.  One  can 
imagine  each  bringing  his  favorite  book  to  begin  the  library,  the  priest  his 
Thomas  a  Kempis,  the  dominie  his  John  Calvin,  and  the  two  living  together 
in  happy  harmony.  And  now  the  University  of  Michigan,  though  two 
hundred  years  behind  hand  in  its  start,  rivals  with  its  7,500  students  and 
500  teaching  stafif,  both  in  quantity  and  quality  of  higher  education  and  in 
research,  its  earlier  progenitor. 


26  UNIVERSITY  OF  MICHIGAN 

I  have  an  earlier  association  with  IVIichigan  which  may  interest  you.  I 
remember  my  father  telHng-  that,  when  he  was  a  young  man,  he  made  a 
journey  into  Michigan  to  inspect  certain  forest  lands  which  my  grand- 
father had  purchased,  and  he  told  me  that,  walking  with  an  Indian  guide  over 
the  Indian  trails  in  the  unbroken  forest,  forty  miles  in  one  day,  he  tasted 
the  most  toothsome  meal  of  his  life,  because  eaten  with  hunger  sauce,  when 
a  missionary  at  the  cross  trails  regaled  him  ot:t  of  his  starvation  rations, 
with  a  pie  of  green  tomatoes  with  potato  crust !  That  is  indeed  a  contrast 
of  Michigan  of  seventy-five  years  ago  and  Michigan  today. 

I  have  another  reason  for  rejoicing  at  being  with  you — that,  as  a 
graduate  of  that  free  and  democratic  college,  the  first  of  the  municipal  free 
colleges,  the  College  of  the  City  of  New  York,  I  have  some  right  to  count 
myself  a  fellow  alumnus  with  you.  We  were  also  a  pioneer,  not  only  in  the 
municipal  college  field,  for  I  think  we  can  boast  of  the  first  chair  of  English 
in  any  American  college,  and,  as  a  child  of  West  Point,  our  college  had  a 
most  comprehensive  mathematics  curriculum,  extending  through  Bartlett's 
Spherical  Astronomy  to  the  equation  of  the  universe,  before  Professor 
Einstein  involved  it  in  the  fourth  dimension.  Before  the  public  school  sys- 
tem had  come  into  full  vigor  and  favor,  we  were  taunted,  as  wards  of  the 
city,  as  you  are  wards  of  the  state,  with  being  "charity  scholars,"  '"educa- 
tional paupers,"  but  a  lady  very  near  to  me  has  suggested  that  it  is  in  the 
endowed  institutions,  dependent  upon  the  gifts  of  rich  men,  that  this  term 
applies,  rather  than  to  those  supported  by  the  people  through  taxation.  We 
took  our  revenge  against  the  newspaper  which  opposed  our  instiution  on 
this  ground  by  educating  one  of  its  chief  editors  of  today.  Also,  we  were 
told  that  as,  like  you,  we  were  without  dormitories  for  our  boys  and  came 
from  all  classes  of  society,  we  could  have  no  college  life.  But  I  have  found 
my  most  intimate  friendships,  the  most  useful  associations  of  my  life,  among 
my  fellow  collegians,  and  one  group  has  maintained  for  a  full  half  century 
a  college  camp  at  Lake  George,  in  which  men,  stretching  sixty  years  apart 
in  college  class,  have  from  year  to  year  renewed  their  youth  and  fealty  to- 
gether. Such  institutions  as  ours  and  yours  are  the  very  bulwark  of  an 
educated  democracy,  and  I  know  of  no  greater  treason  to  democracy  and  ed- 
ucation than  that  within  such  institutions  there  should  grow  up  in  any  group 
of  men  a  feeling  of  social  snobbishness,  of  class  distinction,  of  race  prejud- 
ice, or  of  any  distinction  which  tends  to  separate  instead  of  to  unify  our 
people. 

Lastly.  I  am  glad  to  be  here  today,  not  as  a  librarian — because  I  have 
not  that  honor — but  as  a  library  trustee,  and  one  always  interested  in  li- 
brary development,  to  congratulate  you  on  this  noble  building,  in  which 
harmony  of  architecture  has  been  supplemented  by  harmony  of  effort.  I 
am  glad  to  have  met  here  many  of  these  gentlemen  who  have  devoted  them- 
selves to  this  work  on  the  library  building,  which  will  house,  in  the  great 
future,  as  President  Htitchins  has  said,  "the  heart  of  the  University."  The 
librar)^  and  the  school  together  make  the  safeguards  of  America ;  and  here 
in  Michigan  you  are  setting,  as  you  always  have  set,  a  noble  example  to  your 
sister  states.  It  is,  therefore,  a  high  privilege  that  I  may  speak  to  you  today 
on  the  library  in  its  relations  to  democracy  and  to  research. 


GENERAL  LIBRARY  BUILDING  27 

We  are  confronted  in  these  days,  Mr.  President,  by  a  state  of  mind 
which  denies  thrift,  which  denies  education,  which  denies  democracy.  Even 
gravitation  is  denied  if  the  twelve  men  who  are  supposed  to  understand 
Professor  Einstein's  theory  confirm  the  newspaper  view  of  what  that  means. 
Apparently  this  theory  was  prophesied  by  Lowell,  when  speaking  of  politics, 
he  made  Increse  D.  O'Phace  say : 

■'Everythin'  's  nothin'  except  by  position.'' 

Goethe's  jMephistopheles,  the  spirit  of  evil,  said  of  himself,  "I  am 
the  spirit  that  denies !"  In  these  days  educated  men  and  women  have 
to  combat  that  spirit.  If  Karl  Marx  is  right,  and  capital — that  is,  saved 
labor — is  not  worthy  of  reward,  and  the  man  without  a  hoe  can  do  as 
much  work  and  as  good  work  as  the  man  with  a  hoe,  and  he  as  the  man 
with  two  hoes,  one  to  be  sharpened  while  the  other  is  dulled,  and  he 
the  man  with  a  plough  and  a  cultivator  to  break  and  make  ready  the 
land,  and  he  as  the  man  who  uses  the  most  modern  facilities  of  the 
gang-plow  and  the  Ford  tractor,  another  product  of  the  State  of  Michigan, 
then  what  is  the  use  of  saving,  and  why  thrift!  If  a  man  without  learning 
is  as  good  as  the  man  who  has  devoted  much  of  his  years  to  learning,  and  an 
unskilled  worker  as  good  as  a  skilled  worker,  why  education!  If  one  man  is 
as  good  as  another — if  not,  in  his  own  view,  better — in  a  democracy,  why 
then  a  democracy !  These  are  questions  which  confront  and  challenge  edu- 
cated men  in  these  trying  days.  But  that  same  Mephistopheles,  in  the  great 
drama  of  Goethe — almost  the  greatest  of  dramas — in  which  Goethe,  in  the 
Faust  legend,  enshrines  the  human  nature  of  Shakespeare  in  the  theocratic 
setting  of  Dante  and  Milton,  that  Mephistopheles  at  last  confesses  him- 
self: 

"Part  of  that  power  not  understood. 

Which  always  wills  the  bad,  and  always  works  the  good." 
This  is  the  hope  before  educated  men  that  out  of  any  chaos,  out  of  any 
darkness,  there  will  shine  the  dawning  light  of  a  new  day.  But  the  very 
phrase  suggests  that  we  cannot,  without  work,  accomplish  the  task  that  is 
set  to  educated  men.  Things  are  not  accomplished  except  by  work,  and  to 
meet  the  errors  and  evils  of  the  day,  educated  men  must  set  themselves  to 
work  together.  And  that  means  that  in  a  democracy  the  leaders  must  lead, 
that  the  educated  men  must  have  their  place  in  the  front  ranks,  and  we  have 
seen  in  Russia  that  even  under  Soviet  government,  the  men  who  have  au- 
thority bring  back  to  their  desks  the  men  of  learning  and  experience.  And 
no  democracy  can  last  which  has  not  leadership  within  its  ranks  and  does 
not  recognize  that  leadership. 

What  then  is  democracy?  I  will  not  attempt  a  fresh  definition,  nor 
even,  in  the  phrase  of  Sir  Thomas  Browne,  "hazard  a  wide  conclusion." 
Perhaps  we  know  better  what  it  is  not  than  what  it  is.  But  I  may  quote  a 
fine  declaration  from  a  later  Holmes :  "Democracy  is  fellowship,  the  love  of 
free  men  one  for  another  in  a  community  of  experience  and  service."  I 
think  we  may,  in  fact,  still  say  that  democracy  is  yet  in  Professor  Shep- 
ard's  jurisdiction  as  a  matter  of  experimental  psychology.  It  is  not  an 
oligarchy,  or  rule  of  the  few,  unless  we  give  over  leadership  to  the  political 
bosses.     It  is  not  a  kakocracy,  or  rule  of  evil,  unless  we  take  the  Tammany 


28 


UNIVERSITY  OF  MICHIGAN 


democracy,  which  we  boast  in  New  York,  as  an  example.  It  is  the  opposite  of 
autocracy,  whether  of  a  self-crowned  czar  or  a  self-selected  Soviet,  although 
Andrew  Jackson's  day,  tomorrow,  may  remind  us  that  an  elected  president 
may,  in  times  of  stress,  be  as  autocratic  as  a  czar.  It  is  not  a  government  of 
one  class  over  another,  whether  that  class  be  the  intellectual,  or  the  working 
class,  or  the  red-hued  class  that  would  label  the  government  "Upside  down 
with  care."  Rightly,  a  democracy  should  also  be  an  aristocracy,  combining 
the  virtues  of  both,  and  looking,  in  the  sense  of  the  Greek  word,  to  the  best 
men  at  once  to  lead  and  to  serve  the  people.  That  is  the  true  structure  of  the 
democratic  state,  that  the  leaders  lead,  in  a  leadership  based  always  upon  the 
thought,  not  of  ambition,  but  of  service.  Otherwise,  our  democracy  is  a 
toppling  thing,  not  on  a  broad  base  that  will  stand. 


THE   DESK— MAIN   READING   ROOM 


The  library  represents  democracy  in  a  very  thorough  sense.  I  m-^an 
the  American  library  of  today,  the  public  library,  and  the  university  library, 
which  are  twin  sisters.  There  were  times  when  librarianship  was  the  work 
of  a  book-keeper,  and  one  of  the  Harvard  legends  is  of  Librarian  Sibley,  a 
generation  ago,  who  was  seen  locking  the  doors  of  the  University  library, 
old  Gore  Hall,  with  what  to  him  was  the  happy  word  that  "only  two  books 
were  'out,  and  he  was  going  to  Professor  Agassiz's  house  to  get  hold  of 
these."  That  is  not  the  spirit  of  the  library  of  today,  as  this  great  building 
testifies.  The  motto  of  the  American  Library  Association,  given  it  by  Melvil 
Dewey,  is:  "The  best  books  for  the  most  people  at  the  least  cost" ;  or,  as  a 
latter  amendment  has  it :  "at  any  cost."  Its  spirit  is  one  of  service  to 
the  whole  people,  from  childhood  to  the  end.  But  the  modern  spirit  has 
had  its  small  beginnings,  as  most  things  have  had.  There  was  a  motherly 
librarian  in  Pawtucket,  Rhode  Island,  whom  we  used  to  call  Mother  Saund- 


GENERAL  LIBRARY  BUILDING  29 

ers,  who  felt  that  the  Httle  people  ought  to  have  a  chance  in  the  library,  and 
felt  that  the  grown  people  ought  to  come  in  and  have  a  look  at  the  books, 
not  in  the  old  way,  as  in  Europe  and  South  America,  where  there  is  a  little 
window,  through  which  the  librarian  pokes  his  head  and  you  ask  for  a  book, 
but  on  the  open  shelves.  So  Mother  Saunders,  seeing  the  children  peek 
around  the  corner  of  the  door,  got  some  tables  and  sawed  ofi  the  legs,  and 
some  little  chairs,  and  asked  the  children  to  come  in.  And  then  she  made 
the  door  wide  open  for  the  grown  folks  to  come  in  and  look  for  themselves 
at  the  books  on  the  shelves.  For  a  while  she  was  a  missionary  alone.  After 
a  time  others  began  to  see  that  she  was  right,  and  her  ideas  were  the  germs 
of  many  of  the  library  practices  of  today. 

Today,  as  I  have  said,  the  library  exemplifies,  in  the  largest  way,  the 
true  democratic  spirit.  It  is  unafraid  of  freedom.  It  invites  people  to  come 
to  what  it  has  to  offer. 

In  the  last  fifty  years  or  less,  in  response  to  that  thought,  there  has 
been  growing  up  in  this  country  a  library  profession  and  a  national  library 
organization  which  enshrines  this  democratic  principle.  The  American  Li- 
brary Association  itself  is  one  the  youngest  of  the  professional  organiza- 
tions, and  perhaps  it  did  not  wake  up  to  its  own  importance  until  the  war 
came,  when  it  enlarged  its  work,  and  did  the  great  service  to  our  boys 
abroad  and  on  the  seas  of  which  no  doubt  you  know,  because  you  con- 
tributed largely  to  that  work.  During  the  war  year  we  were  honored  in 
the  American  Library  Association  by  the  presidency  of  your  librarian,  Air. 
Bishop,  and  it  is  largely  to  his  vigor,  and  tact  and  ability  that  the  war  work 
was  so  successfully  done.  And  now -the  Association  has  come  out  with  the 
country  from  the  World  War,  and  is  asking  itself  what  it  can  do  in  time 
of  peace,  because  it  feels,  as  does  the  whole  country,  that  the  energy  of  the 
war  will  be  thrown  away  in  large  measure  unless  it  is  applied  promptly  and 
hopefully  and  patriotically  to  the  work  of  peace.  Therefore,  in  the  past 
week,  in  Chicago,  there  has  been  a  special  national  conference  of  that  Asso- 
ciation, at  which  it  was  determined  to  go  forward  with  an  enlarged  program, 
in  which  doubtless,  you  will  do  your  part.  I  will  not  undertake  to  present 
to  you  the  features  of  that  program,  but  I  will  mention  one  feature  which 
shows  how  largely  the  work  of  this  country  is  extending  out  toward  the 
helping  of  the  other  countries  who  have  suffered  so  much  by  the  war. 

One  of  the  features  of  the  work  will  be  the  continuance  in  Paris  of 
the  American  library  developed  there  during  the  war  for  our  soldier  boys, 
which  a  Paris  committee,  chiefly  of  Americans,  has  undertaken  to  make 
permanent.  The  chief  of  that  committee  is  Mr.  Seeger,  representing  large 
American  interests  in  France,  whose  son,  Alan  Seeger,  you  perhaps  knows 
as  one  of  the  martyrs  of  the  war.  There  came  from  his  books  a  royalty 
amounting  to  50,000  frances,  or  ten  thousand  dollars,  and  the  father  and 
mother,  desiring  to  do  something  in  memory  of  the  boy,  have  made  that  the 
first  contribution  toward  the  permanence  of  the  American  library  in  Paris. 
That  library  will  not  only  be  a  model  in  Paris  to  show  what  the  American 
library  is  doing,  but  it  will  be  a  headquarters  from  which  the  American 
library  may  radiate  its  influence  to  those  countries  which  are  looking  to  us 
for  guidance.  It  seems  to  me  that  the  duty  of  America  is  to  feed  and  free 
the  world ;  and  the  call  is  not  only  to  appease  the  physical  hunger,  but  to 


50  UNIVERSITY  OF  MICHIGAN 

answer  to  the  moral  and  intellectual  needs,  especially  of  the  new  countries 
which  have  developed  from  the  war.  Already  Czecho-Slovakia,  whose 
president  married  an  American  wife  and  is  almost  an  American  himself, 
has  passed  a  general  library  law,  modelled  on  the  American  scheme,  which 
will  provide  a  library  system  for  the  whole  country.  And  here  and  there  in 
other  countries  there  is  the  same  desire  to  know  what  America  is  doing,  and 
to  follow  the  American  spirit.  I  think  )'ou  will  agreed  that  this  in  itself  is 
a  worthy  effort  for  the  American  Library  Association  to  undertake. 

Thus  the  public  library  system  represents  in  a  high  degree  the  spirit 
of  democracy.  But  the  university  library  goes  still  further;  it  represents 
not  only  democracy,  but  leadership  within  democracy,  the  intellectual  aris- 
tocracy which  is  as  necessary  to  democracy  as  any  other  element.    We  think 


MAIN    READING    ROOM— LOOKING    EAST 


of  research  as  rather  a  matter  high  in  the  air.  but  there  is.  after  all,  nothing 
more  practical ;  and  today  the  organization  of  the  American  library  sys- 
etm  is  thoroughly  adapted  to  this  idea  of  research.  One  of  the  most  im- 
portant factors  in  the  w^ar,  or  rather,  in  the  settlement  of  the  war,  was  the 
Inquiry  carried  on  under  the  auspices  of  IMr.  House,  but  practically  headed 
by  Dr.  Mezies,  the  president  of  the  College  of  the  City  of  New  York.  It 
was  called  the  Inquiry  and  it  was  a  practical  piece  of  research  in  wdiich  all 
the  librarians  of  the  country,  and  scholars  and  investigators  generally,  did 
wholeheartedly  co-operate.  We  then  learned  of  the  defects  of  American 
libraries,  because  numerous  books  and  documents  desired  for  the  Inquiry 
could  not  be  found  here,  and,  of  course,  could  not  be  had  from  abroad  in 
the  unsettled  condition  of  affairs  there.  Nevertheless,  the  Inquiry  w^as  com- 
pleted to  the  extent  that  in  many  scores  of  Americans  filing  cabinets  there 
went  with  the  President  to  Paris  information  on  every  possible  point  of 


GENERAL  LIBRARY  BUILDING  31 

European  relationship  which  was  hkely  to  bear  upon  the  question  of  the 
peace  settlement.  The  lesson  which  has  come  out  of  that  has  been  to  incite 
all  American  libraries  to  equip  themselves  better  than  in  the  past  with  the 
materials  for  research.  Because,  as  Mr.  Kahn  has  said,  while  architecture  is 
the  expression  of  thought,  the  expression  of  thought  has  been  in  larger 
measure  recorded  in  our  libraries,  for  in  the  library,  in  particular,  must 
be  sought  the  instruments  of  research.  Library  development  has  indeed 
progressed  to  the  point  where  any  student  in  any  Hbrary  can  avail  himself  of 
the  whole  library  machinery,  that  is,  any  student  in  this  company  may  come 
to  Librarian  Bishop,  and  he  will  gladly  obtain  for  him  any  book  which  can 
be  had  in  this  country — even  from  the  Library  of  Congress  itself — for  which 
he  has  real  need.  This  is  an  example  of  a  national  organization  which,  I 
think  you  will  agree,  is  well  worth  while. 

I  have  said  that  we  think  often  of  research  as  in  the  upper  air.  But 
nothing  could  be  more  utilitarian  from  the  material  point  of  view  alone,  than 
academic  research.  It  is  unnecessary  to  recount  to  you  what  has  been  done 
by  the  agricultural  experiment  stations  and  colleges,  particularly  in  the 
western  farming  states,  to  make  farming  more  productive  and  more  profit- 
able. Fifty  per  cent,  and  in  some  cases,  one  hundred  per  cent,  have  been 
added  to  farm  productivity.  It  was  not  many  years  ago  that  the  agricultural 
experiment  authorities  of  the  United  States  co-operated  with  the  Canadian 
authorities  in  research  which  developed  a  wheat  that  extended  the  Canadian 
wheat  belt  fifty  miles  to  the  north,  and  when  you  think  what  that  means  in 
feeding  a  starving  world,  you  can  see,  without  question,  what  research  can 
practically  mean.  The  Panama  Canal  was  made  possible  by  research.  New 
Orleans  had  burned  up  millions  of  dollars  worth  of  goods  in  the  vain  attempt 
to  rid  itself,  year  after  year,  of  the  yellow  fever  scourge,  which  it  was 
thought  came  from  infection  through  clothing.  It  was  research  which  dis- 
covered the  pestiferous  mosquito,  Avhich  has  killed  ofif  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  people,  and  through  Colonel  Waring's  work  in  the  harbor  of  Havana  and 
Dr.  Gorgas'  work  at  Panama,  the  Isthmus  was  made  possible  to  live  in,  and 
the  Canal,  which  had  been  deferred  from  generation  to  generation,  was  ac- 
complished. So,  at  every  point,  if  we  follow  out  research,  we  find  that  soon- 
er or  later  it  results  in  material  prosperity  as  well.  We  think  of  research  as 
one  thing  and  invention  as  another.  But  as  we  analyze  the  words,  they 
mean,  after  all,  finding  out,  and  the  inventor  is  like  the  research  specialist. 
I  suppose  you  think  of  Mr.  Edison,  who  began  his  work  as  a  railroad  news- 
boy on  the  Port  Huron  branch  in  this  state — in  his  popular  name  as  the 
"Wizard  of  Electricity"- — as  a  man  who  does  not  work,  but  simply  sees 
things  and  grasps  them  and  makes  them  real.  But  if  you  work  with  Edi- 
son, as  I  have  had  occasion  to  do,  you  would  be  astonished  to  find  the  char- 
acter of  his  mind  and  the  material  he  employs.  He  has  a  laboratory  and  a 
library  which  constitute  one  of  the  remarkable  equipments  of  this  countr}^ 
— a  library  in  which  he  has  had  brought  together  for  him  all  the  works  which 
can  be  obtained  on  the  theory  of  electricity  and  the  practical  branches  of 
electricity  with  which  he  has  to  do,  and  a  laboratory  filled  with  substances, 
chemical  or  other,  which  he  uses  in  his  numberless  experiments.  His  prac- 
tice is  to  go  through  one  try-out  after  another,  with  the  patience  of  research. 


32  UNIVERSITY  OF  MICHIGAN 

As  one  works  with  him,  one  can  ahnost  feel  his  mind  going  out,  now  this 
way,  now  that,  Hke  the  antennae  of  an  insect.  You  come  back  to  the  same 
quality  of  research  in  the  inventor  as  in  the  student.  Oftentimes  it  is  the 
man  without  the  advantage  of  education  who  most  thoroughly  recognizes  its 
advantages.  I  remember  before  Grover  Cleveland  took  the  presidency,  he 
said,  after  the  election,  almost  pathetically :  "How  I  wish  I  could  get  away 
for  four  months  and  be  a  student  of  economics  to  fit  myself  better  for  this 
great  work  which  I  have  to  undertake."  xA.nd  often  you  will  find  the  best 
testimony  to  the  university's  value  in  men  who  have  suffered  for  lack  of  un- 
iversity education.  It  is  very  gratifying  to  note  how  largely  democratic  has 
been  the  work  of  this  University ;  to  know  that  the  head  carpenter  and  the 
head  painter  of  the  University  have  sent  their  sons  and  their  daughters  into 
the  University,  so  that  the  second  generation  will  come  into  their  life-work 
with  the  added  advantage  of  University  training. 

But  after  all,  Mr.  President,  we  have  to  gage  work  by  results.  What 
is  the  aim  of  university  teaching?  By  what  result  is  it  to  be  tested?  A 
simple  answer  is  the  test  of  Service.  The  service  of  democracy  is  a  service 
for  the  whole  people.  It  is  not,  it  cannot  be,  a  service  of  personal  ambition. 
Most  of  the  great  aggregations  of  wealth  are  in  the  hands,  not  of  college 
men,  but  of  men  who  have  worked  out  in  a  selfish  way  their  own  ends. 
The  mere  aggregation  of  wealth  is  not  a  joy,  but  oftentimes  a  burden;  the 
mere  making  of  money  is  playing  the  game  of  life  in  a  poor  and  sordid  sort 
of  way,  which  gives  no  such  satisfaction  as  the  sense  of  service.  There  is 
at  least  one  person  in  your  University  faculty,  as  I  have  reason  to  know — 
and  I  suspect  there  are  many  more — whose  genius  for  research  and  whose 
energizing  common  sense  have  opened  to  him  opportunities  for  money  re- 
muneration vastly  beyond  what  the  University  gives  or  can  ever  give.  But 
he  is  not  willing  to  give  himself  to  the  selfish  grinding  of  the  money  mill  in 
place  of  the  unselfish  service  which  he  joys  to  do.  To  recur  again  to  the 
great  drama  of  Goethe — whose  final  lesson  has  been  little  known  to  us 
because  we  have  associated  it  chiefly  with  the  operatic  version  of  the  first 
part — as  we  follow  Faust,  still  in  the  toils  of  ]\Iephistopheles,  through  the 
curious  phantasies  of  the  second  part,  we  find  him  given  everything  that 
the  human  heart  can  desire.  He  has  known  love,  he  has  wealth,  he  has 
power,  but  nothing  has  satisfied  him.  He  has  never  been  able  to  say  to  the 
passing  moment,  "Ah,  still  delay — thou  art  so  fair."  But  in  the  later  scenes 
of  the  second  part,  we  see  him  doing  service  to  the  people  of  his  land,  drain- 
ing its  swamps,  making  the  land  productive,  making  the  people  prosperous 
and  happy,  and,  as  he  looks  over  that  smiling  land,  at  last  he  says.  "Ah.  still 
delay — thou  art  so  fair."  Thus  satisfied,  he  dies,  and  Mephistopheles  claims 
his  victim.  But  in  this  service  Faust  has  redeemed  his  soul.  The  heavenly 
host  beat  off  the  spirit  of  evil,  and  IMephistopheles  is  cheated  of  his  prey. 

That  illustrates  our  service  to  democracy,  to  research,  through  the 
help  of  the  agencies  by  which  we  of  this  twentieth  century  are  blessed. 
The  one  aim  should  be  to  make  ourselves,  each  individual  life,  of  service  to 
the  whole  people,  so  that  every  moment  of  our  passing  existence  may  be 
one  which  we  might  wish  to  stay,  that  we  might  do  the  greater  service  for 
the  people  of  whom  each  is  a  part. 


GENERAL  LIBRARY  BUILDING  33 

THE  OPENING  EXHIBIT  AT  THE 
NEW  LIBRARY 

One  of  the  special  features  which  marked  the  opening  of  the  new 
Library  was  an  exhibit  of  exceedingly  rare  books  and  manuscripts  from  the 
^collections  of  Regent  William  L.  Clements,  '82,  of  Bay  City,  and  Mr.  Wil- 
frid M.  Voynich  of  London  and  New  York.  These  were  shown  for  three 
days  in  the  special  cases  which  line  the  walls  of  the  main  entrance  hallway. 

AMERICANA 

The  exhibit  of  books  from  Mr.  Clements'  library  contained  about  75 
important  source  books  of  the  discovery  and  colonization  period  of  Ameri- 
can history.  The  titles  were  chosen  at  random  with  the  idea  of  illustrating 
in  a  very  general  way  that  period  of  history,  and  of  showing  what  source 
books  are. 

The  exhibit  was  arranged  chronologically,  beginning  with  Mela's  Cos- 
mographi  Geographia,  printed  in  Venice  in  1482  and  containing  the  map, 
which  was  an  important  factor  in  the  charts  of  Columbus.  Next  came  Co- 
lumbus' letter  to  Ferdinand  and  Isabella's  secretary,  Sanchez,  printed  in 
Rome  in  1493,  describing  in  his  own  words  what  he  saw  on  his  first  voyage. 
This  tract  is  one  of  the  rarest  in  all  Americana.  Almost  all  of  the  well- 
known  discoverers  were  represented :  there  was  the  first  printed  account 
of  Magellan's  voyage  (1523),  the  first  edition  of  the  Italian  translation  of 
Cortes'  second  and  third  letters  (1524),  Cabeca  de  Vaca's  account  of  his 
expedition  across  the  Gulf  States  (1555),  Cartier's  discovery  of  "Nouvelle 
France,"  or  Canada  (1580),  Laudonniere's  narrative  of  the  French  expedi- 
tions to  Florida,  and  many  others.  Among  the  earliest  collections  of  voy- 
ages were  the  two  editions  of  Peter  Martyr,  printed  in  1532  and  1534,  and 
Eden's  Decades  of  the  Newe  Worlde,  the  first  collection  of  voyages  printed 
in  English  (1555).  The  piece  de  resistance  of  the  exhibit,  and  of  Mr.  Cle- 
ments' library,  was  Harlot's  Virginia.  This  little  book  is  as  important  as 
it  is  rare,  and  as  beautiful  as  it  is  important.  It  affords  at  this  day  more  au- 
thentic materials  for  the  early  history  of  the  Atlantic  Coast  of  North  Ameri- 
ca, from  the  River  May  to  the  Chesapeake,  than  any  other  portion  of  the 
new  world,  Spanish  or  English,  can  boast  of. 

Other  books  of  especial  interest  were  Captain  John  Smith's  A  True 
Relation  (1608),  the  earliest  work  relating  to  Jamestown,  and  his  A  Des- 
cription of  New  England  (1616)  ;  Winslow's  Good  Nevves  from  New  Eng- 
land (1624),  the  first  source  of  information  concerning  the  colony  at  Ply- 
mouth; Francis  Drake's  The  World  Encompassed  (1628)  ;  A  Relation  of 
Maryland  (1635),  the  second  publication  relating  to  Lord  Baltimore'  plan- 


*;Mr.  Clements  has  formally  agreed  with  the  Regents  to  present  his  entire  Library 
of  Americana  to  the  University  and  to  erect  a  separate  library  building  to  house  it. 
See  The  Michigan  Alumnus,  Alarch,  1920. 


34  UNIVERSITY  OF  MICHIGAN 

tation;  Mercator's  Atlas  (1635-37),  the  greatest  atlas  of  its  time;  Wood's 
New  England's  Prospect  (1639),  the  first  detailed  account  of  Massachu- 
setts; Bullock's  Virginia  Impartially  Examined  (1649)  \  Gardyner's  A  Des- 
cription of  the  New  World  (1651),  the  first  book  in  English  containing  a 
description  of  New  York;  Du  Creux's  Historiae  Canadensis  (1664),  a  his- 
tory composed  from  the  yearly  relations  of  the  Jesuits ;  Frobisher's  Histbria 
Navigationes  (1675)  ;  Penn's  Some  Account  of  the  Province  of  Pennsylva- 
nia (1681),  the  first  of  the  tracts  relating  to  Pennsylvania;  Henne- 
pin's Description  de  la  Louisiane  (1683),  which  deals  with  the  discovery 
by  the  French  Jesuits  of  that  part  of  the  United  States  once  called 
Louisiana;  Le  Clerq's  Premier  Etablissement  de  la  Foy  (1691)  ;  and 
Mather's  MagnaJia  Christi  Americana,  the  most  famous  book  produced  by 
any  American  during  Colonial  times,  printed  in  London  in  1702. 

ILLUMINATED  MANUSCRIPTS 

The  books  from  the  Voynich  collection  which  Mr.  Voynich  brought 
to  Ann  Arbor  at  his  own  expense,  were  illuminated  manuscripts  of  the 
Middle  Ages  and  Renaissance  Period,  the  like  of  which  have  never  been 
seen  in  America. 

Illuminated  manuscripts  of  the  fifteenth  century  are  not  uncommon  in 
European  and  American  libraries  and  museums.  They  are,  however,  or- 
dinarily poorly  executed  pieces  of  an  ordinary  sort.  The  collection  which 
Mr.  Voynich  showed  was  composed  of  selected  manuscripts  with  very 
remarkable  paintings  and  decorations,  dating  from  the  eleventh  to  the  six- 
teenth centuries,  and  exhibiting  the  English,  Flemish,  French,  Spanish,  and 
Italian  styles  of  painting,  decorating,  and  writing.  Many  of  them  were  from 
celebrated  libraries,  one  having  come  from  the  library  of  Lorenzo  di  Medici, 
the  celebrated  Duke  of  Florence  and  father  of  Catherine  di  Medici ;  one 
from  the  private  library  of  Pope  Pius  II,  better  known  perhaps  as  the 
great  Renaissance  scholar  Aeneas  Sylvius  Piccolimini ;  still  others  belonged 
to  celebrated  monastic  libraries,  or  to  collectors  of  a  later  date.  A  number 
of  the  illuminated  Books  of  Hours  and  Prayer  Books  were  known  to  have 
been  executed  for  princes  or  very  wealthy  merchants.  The  collection  was 
particularly  rich  in  devotional  books,  which  were,  of  course,  ordinarily 
chosen  for  illumination  and  adornment  with  miniatures.  There  were  a  num- 
ber of  Psalters,  Breviaries,  Prayer  Books,  and  Books  of  Hours,  as  well  as 
one  Pontifical  and  a  number  of  Latin  Bibles,  including  Bibles  from  Spain 
and  England. 

The  illuminations  are  of  extraordinary  value  for  the  history  of  paint- 
ing: they  show  also  various  schools  of  decoration  as  distinguished  from  min- 
iature painting.  The  collection  was  particularly  strong  in  English  work, 
which  is  not  nearly  so  common  in  the  specimens  preserved  in  this  country 
as  the  work  from  Flanders  and  France,  while  Spanish  specimens  are  al- 
most unknown.     Spanish  illuminated  manuscripts  of  the  early  period  are 


GENERAL  LIBRARY  BUILDING  35 

extremely  rare,  but  in  this  collection  was  a  Latin  Bible  written  and  orna- 
mented in  Spain  in  the  thirteenth  century. 

One  of  the  manuscripts  showed  in  a  very  unusual  fashion  the  method 
of  decorating  parchment  books  in  the  late  Middle  Ages.  The  decorations 
of  this  manuscript  are  not  completed,  and  there  are  a  number  of  pages  in 
which  the  design  was  sketched  with  a  silver  point,  with  only  the  goldsmith's 
work  completed.  The  application  of  gold  and  silver,  which  forms  so  large 
and  beautiful  a  part  of  the  decoration  of  these  manuscripts,  was  not  done  by 
the  scribe  or  by  the  artist  who  did  the  colour  work  and  the  painting,  but 
was  done  by  a  goldsmith  or  silversmith,  who  applied  the  gold  to  the  vellum 
by  a  secret  process  now  lost  to  us,  and  afterwards  polished  it  very  highly, 
usually  with  agate  or  some  other  semi-precious  stone.  Later  the  painter  used 
his  pigments  in  making  borders  or  actual  pictures.  There  are  few  manu- 
scripts in  existence  which  show  this  process  in  its  incomplete  state. 

Among  the  most  interesting  of  the  manuscripts  is  one  coming  from 
the  Cistercian  Monastery  near  Laon,  in  France  (a  town  absolutely  destroyed 
in  the  recent  fighting)  which  shows  unmistakable  evidence  of  the  use  of  a 
block  or  die  to  print  the  initial  letters  in  red  ink.  When  it  is  remembered 
that  the  first  book  printed  with  movable  types  was  made  about  1450,  the 
importance  of  this  discovery,  which  shows  the  use  of  the  die  for  printing 
at  least  two  hundred  years  prior  to  the  use  of  types,  is  at  once  seen.  The 
evidence  is  unmistakable,  and  completely  satisfies  scholars  who  have 
seen  the  book,  that  the  initials  were  not  only  printed,  but  that  the 
work  is  fully  as  early  as  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century.  It  is  known 
that  experiments  in  the  use  of  dies  were  made  long  before  Gutenberg  in- 
vented printing,  but  until  this  manuscript  was  discovered  by  Mr.  Voynich 
nobody  supposed  that  they  were  made  so  very  early. 

Three  manuscripts  of  extraordinary  interest,  shown  here  in  1915  by 
Mr.  Voynich,  were  exhibited  a  second  time.  One  of  these  was  a  great  work 
by  Marcanova  on  "The  Archaeology  of  Italy."  It  shows  drawings  of  a 
number  of  buildings  dating  from  Roman  times,  which  have  since  disap- 
peared, and  others  which  have  been  so  changed  by  restoration  since  the  date 
of  this  manuscript  that  their  original  form  is  lost  to  us.  The  manuscript 
is  full  of  drawings  by  the  celebrated  Renaissance  artist  Finiguerra,  and  is 
of  the  greatest  value  to  students  of  architecture  and  of  classical  archaeology. 

One  of  this  group  also  was  the  original  manuscript  of  The  Art  of  War- 
by  Land  and  Sea,  which  was  written  by  Sigismund  Malatesta  and  his 
friend,  Valturio.  Malatesta  was  Duke  of  Rimini,  and  had  a  number  of 
copies  of  this  manuscript  made  for  various  kings  and  princes  of  Europe. 
It  was  finished  about  1460  before  anyone  had  printed  a  book  in  Italy,  and 
was  used  as  a  copy  for  printing  the  book  at  Verona,  in  1470.  The  book  was 
printed  without  the  knowledge  or  consent  of  the  author,  and  indeed  by  the 
authority  of  the  Venetian  Republic,  which  was  at  war  with  the  Duke 
of  Rimini.  This  copy  was  the  one  used  by  the  printers.  The  first  book 
printed  in  Italy  was  in  1465.  and  this  of  1470,  which  was  shown  with  the 


36 


UNIVERSITY  OF  MICHIGAN 


manuscript,  is  consequently  among  the  first  books  printed  south  of  the 
Alps.  The  volume  contains  a  drawing  by  Andrea  Mantegna,  a  great  Ren- 
aissance painter. 

By  far  the  most  important  manuscript  ever  brought  to  America,  how- 
ever, is  the  extraordinary  cipher  manuscript  of  a  work  on  The  Secrets  of 
Nature,  profusely  illustrated,  and  unquestionably  dating  from  the  thir- 
teenth century.  This  manuscript  has  been  the  subject  of  extended  study  by 
various  scholars,  and  it  seems  likely  that  Professor  Newbold,  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  Pennsylvania,  has  succeeded  in  finding  the  key  to  the  cipher.  It  is 
probably  the  work  of  Roger  Bacon,  and  may  even  be  in  his  handwriting. 
It  seems  impossible  that  the  various  drawings  in  the  manuscript  could  have 
been  produced  without  the  aid  of  a  microscope ;  and  if  the  text  is  deciphered, 
it  may  show  that  the  microscope  was  invented  by  Bacon  centuries  before 
its  later  discovery  and  use. 


THE  CARRELS  OFF  THE  STACKS 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BO 


WED 


This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below/or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 

Renewed  books  are  subjea  to  immediate  rea^ll. 


APR  2  3  1959 

AUG  14  1963 

! 

General  Library 
LD  21-50ot-8,'57                                   University  of  California 
(,C8481sl0)476                                                    Berkeley 

